Picasso came into my life as a 10 day old orphan. Some people had chased a stray cat out of their house not knowing that she'd left a kitten in there. They were getting ready to leave for vacation that night and didn't have time to do anything with a random stray kitten. So they called the wildlife rehab center I was volunteering for at the time. We weren't supposed to take domestic animals but I've always been a sucker for kittens.

He's was the strangest orange fluff ball I'd ever seen. As some people may know, it can be extremely difficult to sex young kittens. Because he was an orange tabby I was already kind of assuming he'd be male. We flipped him over and OMG!!! He had the biggest furry orange testicles I'd ever seen. They were huge in proportion to his body. I turned to my fellow volunteer and said, "He HAS to be a Picasso!" Hehe.

He went to work with me every day and at the time I was riding the bus so he also rode the bus with me every day. He was a hit! Little stinker would get hungry about half way home and hang off the front of his carrier and scream at the top of his lungs. He had a teddy bear that was his Mommy and he'd sleep with it.

I think because he was hand raised and well traveled, he was always super social. He loved everyone (person, dog, cat) that came through the door. Babies in play pens? He was there. Old people? Great! Allergic people? Even better! He became known as "Monkey Man" because of his special trick of leaping from the top of the cat tree onto people's shoulders....never once using his claws. He was also devilishly good at getting into things. I have a locked pantry because of him and I don't keep any garbage in the house because of him.

He was also a great cat to demonstrate "cat show kitty" with. You could hold him up over your head with your hands behind his front legs and in front of his back legs and he'd just hang there. You could also drape him around your neck, like a stole. He was the perfect accessory! He was always free and giving with his head butts and purring and kept purring until the end. He had seventeen great years and that makes me happy.

So long, Monkey Man......keep getting into things!

~Jeanine

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07